Thursday, October 27, 2011

The image of God’s men exerting force on women and being afraid of an earthly complaint is all a bit odd when thinking of the Prophetic character. Do they really think they’re furthering God’s wishes on earth? If so, why does their lack of tact so contradict the manner of the last prophet who, through kindness, won the hearts of the rigid Meccans? Some have more forcefully tried to convince me that it’s feminine to have a clean shave. “If you keep a beard, my heart will automatically draw toward you because you’ll be fulfilling a Sunnah,” said a man, who hardly knew me, at the Columbia University prayer room….

The film is notable for its portrayal of Hinduism and of the British. Hindus are presented as miserable, corrupt, and sexually debauched while the British are scheming. Muslims, meanwhile, are poor and hard working. Ilam Din (Haider) is depicted as a blessed Muslim from the moment of his birth. When a mullah recites Azan (call for prayers) in his ear, the new-born Ilam Din stops crying and listens to Azan attentively. The mullah interprets this as a blessed sign. In contrast, Raj Pal (Afzal Ahmed) is greedy, scheming and sexually wayward. He is fond of a Red Light Area girl who is also a Hindu. Raj Pal wants to publish an inflammatory book to provoke the Muslims.

The Afghans have been in a war now for the last three decades, with a testing period of Taliban rule in between. They deserve their share of sanity and normalcy. They have been mauled by history and by the ‘Great Game’ players. This should equally be what both America and Pakistan must seek. America is now suffering the consequences of involvement in a prolonged war. Pakistan is in worse straits. Having been declared a ‘front line ally’ in this war against terror it has gotten mired deeper and deeper in the war. In that role, she has suffered some telling adversity.

The caption may shock most Muslim men who believe that God has raised their ranks over women and given them the right to beat up a ‘rebellious’ or ‘disobedient’ wife. Any Qur’anic translation in Urdu, Hindi, English or any other language for that matter, of the verses 4:34 and 2:229 will support such notions. “Men are the supporters (qawwamah) of (their) wives because God has favored each of them in different measures (ba'dahum ‘ala ba'din), and because of what they spend (for them) of their wealth.

Issues and Challenges facing the Muslim World: How Green is My Valley?

By MJ Akbar

We Muslims lose the argument when we become either submissive-defensive, or aggressive-hysterical. There is a lot of space in-between. We need to establish that an alternative voice is not a hostile voice. A critical fact: the intellectual onslaught against Muslims started long before 9/11, it was not a reaction. Huntington wrote about a clash of civilisations seven years before 9/11. It was a time when almost every Muslim nation had supported America in the wars for the liberation of Afghanistan and Kuwait. To blame the neocons is not enough. We have to answer them.

Compassion begins with empathy. Empathy is the ability to feel for another. They who are sensitive to the motions of life, to the experiences of pain and pleasure are capable of empathy. They who have watched the movements of their thoughts, the burden of unnecessary thinking, and the pain of conflicting thoughts know it well. They, who have paid attention to their emotional upsurges, the unintelligent ways of anger, hurt or hate, the irrationality of fear, feel empathy for another who is going through a similar emotion. Hence, compassion begins with attention to one's own life experiences, be it physical or emotional.

These ill-fated families had everything in abundance including loss, yet continued to become much-loved legacies. Fairy tales will always be just that, fairy tales! Happily ever after can never reach the extraordinary heights reached by its antagonist, tragedy.

About a year ago, I was in Mecca performing the Umrah pilgrimage and praying for Gaddafi's death. I had come to the view that Gaddafi was the main cause of all the problems in my country, and the only solution I could think of was to pray for his end. Maybe one day I would wake up to hear that he had died and someone else would replace him. This was the only hope I had of a better future for Libya.

It seems to be a season of protests and vigils in Pakistan. In recent days, we have seen people take to streets for assorted reasons ranging from electricity, load shedding, Mumtaz Qadri, presumably Steve Jobs and now potentially Muammar Qaddafi.

“When Ghazi Ilmuddin killed Singh for blasphemy nobody said he was not liable to be tried under the law… Today the situation is radically different. The orthodox clerics are supporting their quaint theory of private justice and denying a person’s accountability under the law on the ground that his action is not an offence under the Islamic code”.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Asghar Ali Engineer in an interview with Mohammed Wajihuddin (Translated from English by-Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

My struggle has been two-pronged - one is within my Dawoodi Bohra community and the other is for reforms and change in understanding Islam. The reformist movement in Dawoodi Bohras has met limited success, but we have not given up. I have fought against narrow interpretations of Quranic verses and the Hadiths. I have always maintained that Islam should be understood in a modern context, not with a prism formulated by medieval scholars. --Asghar Ali Engineerin an interview withMohammed Wajihuddin (Translated from English by-Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

But newly democratic Maldives is up against a serious challenge - religious extremism. Maldivians are Sunni Muslim and adherence to Islam is required for citizenship. Historically, religion has been an important part of the daily lives of Maldivians, but the Islam followed here was never rigid or puritanical.Maldivian Islam is suffused with local cultural practices and faith in Islam has co-existed with the belief in spirits - djinns. Alongside praying to Allah, Maldivians turned to magic and spells for protection against evil spirits.Traditionally, women did not veil their faces or cover their heads and men did not grow beards. Interaction between men and women was allowed and arranged marriages, practiced in most Islamic societies, was never the norm here. -- Sudha Ramachandran

The war in Afghanistan costs US taxpayers two billion dollars a week. However, these phenomenal figures have not translated into anything tangible for Afghan women. Ten years ago on October 7, the NATO troops, captained by the USA, landed in Afghanistan. This UN-mandated invasion was coached in beautiful slogans like liberation of Afghan women from misogynist Taliban. Ten years on, the situation in our country, however, remains grim. Widespread violence, lack of health care and poverty make Afghanistan the worse country in the world for women, according to a study by the Thomson-Reuters Foundations. Such studies, by the way, have become common place. The Thomson-Reuters study was based on interviews with 213 experts world-wide. This study placed Afghanistan on top of five worst countries for women. -- Sahar Saba

Samir's short, eventful journey abruptly ended last week. Clearly, he was as dangerous for America as Anwar Al-Awlaki although he never fired a shot nor killed anyone. Along with Awlaki, he's one of the first US citizens to be killed by their own government. A promising life cut short. An appalling tragedy. But Samir's sudden death isn't just the tragedy of a peace-loving immigrant family. This is an American tragedy and a failure of all those fine ideals and principles that America once stood for. This is the end of American dream. US drones are now killing men, women and children like flies all across the Middle East and beyond. The drone that killed Awlaki, Samir and two others was launched from a new site on Arabian Peninsula. Due process, rule of law? Are you kidding me? Who can dare to confront Uncle Sam, the judge, jury and executioner? Except for some stray voices in blogosphere, few in the land of the free have bothered to debate the legality of this White House-authorized killing of US citizens, let alone the daily slaughter of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. -- Aijaz Zaka Syed

"As in the past we [Muslims] have saved Europe from the dark ages, we now plan to do the same. Now we have the right solution for all crises and this is the observance of the divine law, namely Sharia. We call to implement Sharia in Belgium." "Sharia is the perfect system for humanity. In 1300 years of the Islamic state we knew only order, welfare and the protection of all human rights. We know that Spain, France and Switzerland knew their best times under Sharia. In these 1300 years, 120 women were raped, which is equal to 120 women a day in Europe. There were barely 60 robberies recorded in 1300 years." "As a result, we invite the royal family, parliament, all the aristocracy and every Belgian resident to submit to the light of Islam. Save yourself and your children of the painful punishment of the hereafter and grant yourself eternal life in paradise." -- Soeren Kern

The present day Islamophobia driven greenhorn scholarship draws on the Qur’anic verses with exhortations to kill the Mushriks (technically ‘mushrikin’, translated as unbelievers, disbelievers, idol worshippers) to project Islam as a violent religion that permits killing the ‘Mushriks’. Some radical groups in India fan communal hatred and violence by quoting these verses, applying the word ‘al-mushrikin’ to the Hindus. “He is the One God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings, watching over all works, the witness, the perceiver, the only One, free from all qualities (that humans attribute to Him).” Svetesvatra Upanishad 6.11. “The hypocrite men and women are of the same kind. They enjoin the evil, and forbid the good, and hold back their hands (from giving to the needy). They are oblivious of God and God is oblivious of them, and without doubt, they are the deviants (fasiqun) (9:67). -- Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com

Every year, youngsters from Malappuram and the larger Malabar region come to Delhi University to pursue under-graduate and post-graduate studies. Almost all of them learned about the University from others: seniors from school who found their way to the University before them.Muhsina Ahsraf, from Areekode in Malappuram, wants to write the civil services exam. Her coming to DU is an extension of her father’s dream. --Nandini Thilak(Translated from English by Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

My spiritual tree never left its allotted space. Neither did it ever protest against anyone; it never demanded that others find its new, living leaves. It remained at the same place and started a new process within itself. What was this process? The process was to get its food from below as well as from sunlight. The strategy worked. The whole of nature came to its aid and after some months, it gained its lost greenery once again. This is the lesson I learned from my spiritual tree. No protest, no complaint, no demand, no street activism or stage activism: simply trust your own natural abilities and work silently. Try to reshape your destiny. And very soon you will be glad to discover that you have regained your life.What is a tree? A tree is an illustration from nature. Nature tells us of its scheme through trees - that after every winter, a new spring will follow. -- Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

According to media reports, Pakistan is contemplating granting the Most Favoured Nation status to India — a move that is being described as “dramatic”. Realising that it cannot afford hostility simultaneously on its western and eastern borders, Pakistan’s move for an improved relationship with India is understandable. But, in Pakistan, there is an influential lobby, including religious political parties like Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) that holds that instead of accepting US hegemony to counter the security threat from India, it is better to improve relations with the latter to avoid being a surrogate to the former. In India, as well, there are certain circles that are of the opinion that if Pakistan and India join hands, they can keep the region free of the influence of extra-regional powers. A widening row between Pakistan and the US, therefore, may come as a blessing in disguise for peace and reconciliation between the two archrivals, Pakistan and India. -- Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan

We don’t need to build dams and reservoirs for managing our natural resources; we don’t need schools and teachers for our children and hospitals for the poor. Our all- weather friends are China and Saudi Arabia. Never mind that China doesn’t help us much when we are ravaged by earthquakes and floods or when we are short of cash to pay our foreign bills. NEVER MIND that Saudi Arabia treats our migrant workers like slaves, rents our military to crack down on Shia majorities in Bahrain and exports extremist “Islam” to our lands. At the end of the day, who eats grass when we rise to defend our sovereignty? Not our pot- bellied traders and businessmen. Not our golf- playing generals. Not our Defence Housing Society residents. Not our foreign- asset holding politicians whose kids go to English- medium private schools at home and abroad. Not our self-righteous media Mughals who berate our slavish black- skins and white masks. Not our corrupt judges and civil servants. It’s the wretched of the earth, the poorest of the poor, who eat grass. -- Najam Sethi

I often ask my audience if they have heard of Aurangzeb. Everyone says yes. But when I ask if they have heard of Dara Shikoh, very few say they have. We remember Aurangzeb because he has been presented as a villain - but we have forgotten his brother Dara Shikoh, who championed Hindu-Muslim unity by translating Hindu scriptures into Persian. He also penned a classic called Majma-ul-Bahrain (co-mingling of the rivers). We need to teach our children correct history. The reformist movement in Dawoodi Bohras has met limited success, but we have not given up. I have fought against narrow interpretations of Quranic verses and the Hadiths. I have always maintained that Islam should be understood in a modern context, not with a prism formulated by medieval scholars. – Asghar Ali Engineerin an interview with Mohammed Wajihuddin

Six years ago, in a book published just before he became his country's ambassador to the U.S., politician-scholar Husain Haqqani recorded that the Pakistan Army's jihadist project was “not just the inadvertent outcome of decisions by some governments.” Instead, he argued, the Pakistani state's use of Islam “gradually evolved into a strategic commitment to Jihadi ideology.” The Green Books explain just what this strategic commitment entails. Later, General Ayub Khan excised the prefix “Islamic” from Pakistan's name, but nonetheless appointed a council of clerics to guide the state. His successor, the hard-drinking General Yahya Khan, allied with Islamists in Bangladesh and Kashmir. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in turn, bowed to clerical pressure, pushed forward with anti-minorities measures and declared Islam the state religion. -- Praveen Swami

From a region that once sent school dropouts as unskilled workers to Gulf countries, Malappuram district is now giving other states a run for their scores. The pass percentages in class X exams over the years chart that success story. In 2001, the pass percentage was a dismal 33.24. In 2002, it touched 41.23 per cent and in 2004, it stood at 58.77 per cent. Then, the big change happened. In 2010, the figure touched 86.91 per cent and in 2011, the district registered a pass percentage of 88.52, within touching distance of the overall state pass percentage of 91.37. Over the last few years, among the 14 districts in Kerala, Malappuram has had the highest number of students appearing for the class X exam. This year’s topper in the state medical entrance exam (V Irfan) and the second rank holder in the state engineering entrance (Thattarathodi Jaffer) are both from Malappuram. --Shaju Philip (Translated from English by Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

In case Islamabad decides to pull the plug on the US, it may still be possible to feed the troops in Afghanistan - but it will certainly become more difficult. This is not to suggest that there aren't problems in Washington's perception of Pakistan. In fact, as the US gets into the election cycle, the hawks in the government will make a case against Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan also needs the US if the latter wants a good deal in Afghanistan. Despite the inclination of the hawks in Islamabad to 'go it alone' in Afghanistan, the fact is that this is a plan fraught with numerous problems. The most critical issue is the threat of Pakistan getting sucked into the Afghan quagmire after the US's departure. Pakistan and the US stand at a juncture in their relations where they experience a strategic divergence of perceptions, plan and tactical convergence. This means that they are no longer on the same page as far as Afghanistan and the war on terror are concerned. The main issue is the manner in which they visualise the Afghanistan endgame. -- Ayesha Siddiqa

Will they, à la post-MQM-resignation, unleash a political figure who will make his nervous breakdown a public performance piece? Or will they use the same tactic my office did and pretend to take it seriously before offering a designation change in place of an actual salary increase. What none of them will do, and it’s a shame, is to take any of this seriously. If the government calls the PML-Q’s bluff and accepts the resignations, offering their vacated posts to someone with the same qualifications (a horse, a small child or even a rock), then we might actually see something interesting happen. Now if you will excuse me, the tea my office just served me tastes terrible and I need to compose an angry email threatening instant resignation unless I get my way. Don’t worry; it’s my seventh such letter this month. I am sure this won’t backfire in any way. -- Sami Shah

The Moi-e-Muqqadas or the sacred hair of Prophet Muhammad is enshrined at the Hazratbal mosque in Srinagar; unsurprisingly, this has been drawing visitors despite it having seen quite a bit of unrest over the years on account of political turmoil. They say God's ways are mysterious; therefore, you just need to observe and follow the way shown to you without commenting on it or questioning it. It seemed to be happening to me here. Happy and content at my unscheduled pilgrimage, I marveled at how I was brought here by an Unseen Power to experience Hazratbal, a good 500 kilometers away from what I call home. I went back, far richer from this wonderful experience. -- Mousumi Roy

Peace is finally at hand. The All Parties Conference (APC) held recently in Islamabad, has come up with a wholly workable resolution regarding Pakistan’s war on terror. According to the resolution, the political parties and the military want to ‘give peace a chance.’ And they also want to love you yea, yea, yea, and want to hold your haaaand, until they run out of Beatles’ song titles. When media personnel suggested that the Philippines is a tropical area with lots of forests and not arid like FARTA, the Halali Network spokesperson claimed that US drone attacks have destroyed the forests and that it was because of these attacks and the resultant deforestation in Philippines that there were devastating floods in Pakistan and tsunami in Japan. Pakistan’s leading Islamic scholar, date palm farmer and hunk, Aamir Liaquat, agreed and that was that. -- Nadeem F. Paracha

Now we have women in government and prominent positions in civil society, with 69 female MPs in parliament, 27 percent of the total – some achievement when you consider that only 22 percent of UK MPs are women. Of the 7 million children who go to school, 40 percent are girls. But Afghanistan remains the worst place to live as a mother and as a woman, according to UN studies. Any Afghan will tell you that security is their primary concern. Without security you cannot implement an economic strategy, expand education and health or tackle deep-rooted problems such as corruption, drug trafficking and violence against women. -- Fawzia Koofi

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Urdu Section

05 Oct 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Death Sentence: This Brutality is not Islam

By Mehdi Hasan (Translated from English by Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

Nor does the Qur'an say that a Muslim who apostasises be given any penalty. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by Islam's holy book in the famous verse: "Let there be no compulsion in religion" (2:256). Apostasy is deemed a sin, but the Qur'an repeatedly refers to punishment in the next world, not this one. Take the 137th verse of chapter 4: "Those who believe then disbelieve, again believe and again disbelieve, then increase in disbelief, God will never forgive them nor guide them to the Way" (4:137). This verse, which explicitly allows for disbelief, followed by belief, followed once again by disbelief, suggests any punishment is for God to deliver – not judges in Iran, Saudi Arabia or anywhere else. –Mehdi Hasan(Translated from English by Samiur Rahman, NewAgeIslam.com)

Ten years ago the West closed down the debate on Afghanistan with stories of oppression. The reality is far more complex still. This isn't just history, the conflation of western aggression and women's rights has underpinned the last 10 years of conflict. Laura Bush has expanded on her 2001 themes at regular intervals ever since. In 2010, Time ran a cover photo of a girl, Bibi Aisha, whose nose had been cut off, and used the headline: “What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan.” As my colleague Jonathan Steele points out in his fascinating new book, Ghosts of Afghanistan, Bibi's story didn't quite fit the template of brutal Taliban. But it didn't much matter. The plight of Afghan women was a rallying cry that didn't allow for discussion or nuance. There was enough truth — such as the worst maternal mortality in the world — to silence any doubt. This simplistic morality tale of how American soldiers would advance the rights of Afghan women fits neatly into the thesis put forward by Susan Faludi in her book, The Terror Dream. Here she analysed how, after 9/11, Americans used historical myths, of cowboys rescuing and protecting weak women, for instance, in a bid to make larger sense of the attack. -- Madeleine Bunting

About Me

New Age Islam(Hindi: न्यू ऐज इस्लाम,Urdu: نیو ایج اسلام,Arabic: نيو أج اسلام) is aliberal Musliminstitution based in New Delhi,India.[1]It encouragesprogressivethinking amongMuslimsworldwide by exposing them to news, analyses and opinions on a variety of social, political, theological and spiritual issues related toIslam. It also provides a platform for debate on contemporary concerns facing Muslims, such asreligious extremism,terrorismand relations with other religious groups.[2][3][4]